The Greek Navy will reportedly continue to operate in the Libyan Sea to monitor the Greek maritime zones, which has fallen under dispute regarding territorial waters south of Crete.
The report comes based on sources who spoke to Kathimerini, with Athens considering the continued naval presence in the area essential, particularly as Ankara and Libya dispute Greek maritime zones south of Crete.
The situation is a development on the ongoing dispute which saw Greece formally reject on Wednesday Libya’s maritime claims in a verbal note to the United Nations Secretary-General and in a diplomatic note to the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity.
Libya had presented a note on 20 June wherein they showed their maps which overlapped the entire Greek Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and extended almost to the territorial waters of Crete.
The note from the Greek government countered Libya’s claims of allegedly violating their sovereign rights, as well as countering Libya’s attempt to unilaterally define a median line, which completely covers the Greek EEZ, as depicted in maps submitted to the UN on 27 May.
Athens also delivered a verbal note to Tripoli, inviting Libya (following the visit of Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis to Libya) to honour its commitment to begin dialogue on maritime zone delimitation.
Greece has informed Tripoli of its negotiating team, inviting Libya to appoint its own, to enable the start of talks.
The Greek delegation is headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Alexandra Papadopoulou and includes Ambassador Andreas Fryganas (Director of Political Affairs at the MFA), Foivos Georgakakis (Director of the A6 Directorate for Arab Countries and the Middle East), and two members from the Legal Service, led by Senior Legal Advisor Alexandros Kolliopoulos.
It is emphasised that the blocks from the maps in question were delineated based on the median line between Greece and Libya, in line with the partial EEZ delimitation agreement between Greece and Egypt.
Greece further rejects Libya’s claims regarding other blocks west and southwest of Crete, noting that these licenses were issued in 2014 and 2017 without any Libyan objection at the time.
Athens underlines that this unilateral Libyan action seeks to ignore Greece’s sovereign rights, violates international maritime law, and is based on the illegal Turkey-Libya memorandum and the unilateral closure of the Gulf of Sirte, which Greece has denounced at the UN.
